Issue 21
Fall 2019
Hanging
Mohammad-Ali Sepanlou
Translated by Siavash Saadlou
I am the last seeping of the rain,
hanging from a dried leave,
from the bare woman of the tree,
rolling on the floor.
The milky smoke was perhaps
your body rising from its flames
of melancholy. Our love smelled
of the winter. The eye of hesitation,
whether open or closed, fails to behold
beauty. Our love wasn’t any more
bereft of hope than the fall.
About the Author
Mohammad-Ali Sepanlou, an Iranian poet, author, and literary critic, was born in November 1940. He was nicknamed “The Tehran Poet” for poems that acknowledge the allure of Iran’s capital. He published more than 60 volumes of poetry and essays, and was also a founding member of the Writers’ Association of Iran. Sepanlou was awarded the French Legion of Honor and the Max Jacob Memorial Award for his scholarly and literary achievements. He died in May 2015, aged 75.
About the Translator
Siavash Saadlou is a writer and translator. His fiction has appeared in Margins, and his poetry in Sons and Daughters, Scoundreltime, and Saint Katherine Review. His translations of contemporary Persian poetry have been published in Washington Square Review, Visions International, Blue Lyra Review, and Asymptote, among other journals. Saadlou holds an MFA in creative writing from Saint Mary’s College of California, where he was also a teaching fellow. He lives in Tehran, Iran.